Staying on Track[ing]

So, one of the things that has worked really well for me in the past is tracking - tracking my calories, tracking my workouts, and tracking my weight. Now, I have a FitBit and will be tracking my steps too. So, I'll tell you what has worked for me and if you have any recommendations, you can share with me too!

Calorie tracking: I use a food scale and SparkPeople to track my calories. I weigh out most of my food and then log it online (with my computer or using the SP app on my phone). It was recommended to me to get a food scale because you'd be shocked at how off the measured foods are compared to the weighed out food - try it on cereal - that's the most alarming difference. And, if you're a cereal person (I'm not), you'll be sad at how little one serving size of cereal really is.

I recently tried the FitBit Dashboard to track my calories because their food library seemed larger. However, I found that a lot of the fruit wouldn't let you track by weight. And since I'd been using SparkPeople for so long, a lot of the food that wasn't already in the food library was already in my SparkPeople personalized library. I think the FitBit app for tracking is a little more user friendly and prettier to look at, but I'll be sticking with Spark People - it lets you put food in by weight.

Workout tracking: I also will be sticking with my heart rate monitor for calorie tracking during workouts instead of my FitBit - I have the Charge HR, which can supposedly take your heart rate. I have been using the same heart rate monitor since 2010. Unfortunately, they don't make that heart rate monitor anymore and I kinda sorta killed it by wearing it when snorkeling in Lake Malawi. Every time I try putting in a new battery, it dies again within a day. So, I forked over another $60 and bought a new one, which is better because it's green ;-)

When you first get the heart rate monitor, you input all your settings: age, weight, height, and sex. Then it calculates a target HR zone for you and you turn it on during your workout. Otherwise, it functions as a watch when you're not using it. You also have to wear a heart rate strap thingy ma jiggy. It's a chest strap and mine goes right under my tatas. Unlike my previous strap, this one is very thin and allows you to take the heart rate monitor part off to throw the strap in the wash. I couldn't do that with my last heart rate monitor, so I'm a big fan of this one.

The FitBit Charge HR claims that it tracks your heart rate so when my first heart rate monitor died, I almost didn't replace it. However, after wearing the FitBit to the gym a few times and putting my hands on the heart rate monitor hand grips, I found that my FitBit was anywhere from 20-40 beats per minute off. So, the heart rate monitor was a must - I really rely on it to make sure the intensity of my workouts are high enough.

Weight tracking: I have a Taylor brand scale to track my weight. I've had it for about 5 years and it's usually pretty close to the weights I get at the gym or the doctor's office. I weigh myself in the morning right after my morning pee to get myself at my lowest weight and will be doing so tomorrow so I can start my 2 week, 6 pound/get new shoes challenge! Starting tomorrow, I'm going to to try to lose 6 pounds. If I do, I'm going to order some brand new shoes - something I haven't done in a loooong time! Stay tuned!

Do you use anything to track? Or does getting caught up in the details stress you out?